NH House Leaders Vote to Dissolve Chancellor’s Office of USNH

CONCORD – House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon) and House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt (R-Salem) offered the following comments on the passage of House Bill 1692, which would make changes to the administration of the university system of New Hampshire (USNH) by dissolving the Chancellor’s office. The bill passed 247 to 105.

House Speaker William O’Brien

“The Chancellor’s Office has a $23.5 million budget, and a university with one of the highest public tuition costs in the nation.  We must put more money toward reducing tuition and eliminating unnecessary and inefficient administrative overhead. The university system is a collection of state schools that need to focus on their fundamental mission of a good college education for a reasonable tuition that will not hobble its student years following their graduations.

“We were not pleased to see the board of trustees increased in-state tuition by 8.7 percent for the current academic year at UNH, much beyond what was necessary to replace lost state funding. This is especially concerning since the teachers union, for yet another year in a row, requested a 16 percent raise in pay. All alternatives should be explored before hiking tuition, which led us to look in to whether changes such as elimination of the Chancellor’s Office could alleviate these kinds of decisions. They will.”

House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt

“More autonomy in the university system would allow each school to best design a product to serve their students.  Not every school is the same or attracts the same clientele.  Not every student is the same or has equal talents and abilities. There seems to be a philosophy in this system that you can avoid reform simply by waiting out those who are seeking reform until they leave the legislature and the status quo can continue.  But the message of this legislature is that change is coming and in these tough economic times we can no longer afford to continue down the usual path.

“The administration of our universities should look for savings within their budget—just as every family in New Hampshire has had to do in these tough economic times—instead of automatically passing on the onus of wasteful and excessive spending to the students with tuition hikes.”

NHDP - Ovide Puts Social Issues, Taking Away NH Citizens' Rights at Forefront of Campaign

Concord, NH - This afternoon, Republican candidate for Governor Ovide Lamontagne made his first public campaign appearance of 2012 at a sparsely attended anti-marriage equality rally at the State House. New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley released the following statement on Lamontagne making fringe social issues the focus of his campaign.

"It is clear Ovide's priorities lie in exactly the same place where they were 20 years ago when he began his career as a four time losing candidate - he is focused on fringe social issues and the reckless Tea Party agenda at the State House. Instead of talking about jobs, the economy, or common sense solutions to the problems facing New Hampshire, Ovide spent the day paling around with far right social conservatives and helping them force their out of touch agenda on New Hampshire."

A recent University of New Hampshire poll reported that New Hampshire remains opposed to repeal of marriage equality. "Strong opponents of repealing same-sex marriage continue to outnumber strong proponents by more than 2 to 1," said Andrew Smith, Director of the UNH Survey Center. "The New Hampshire public is not showing any strong desire to repeal this law." [10/13/2011]

"Ovide should have spent the afternoon chastising House Speaker Bill O'Brien and the other members of the Republican legislature on the stage next to him instead of trying to strip away rights from New Hampshire citizens. The legislature's reckless and irresponsible agenda is what concerns New Hampshire voters, not who their friends and relatives are marrying," continued Buckley.

When asked in the most recent UNH poll, Granite State voters are self-identifying the Republican legislature as the second most serious problem facing the state of New Hampshire. The Republican legislature has been one of the three most serious problems facing the state in four consecutive polls. [02/06/2012]

UNH Granite State Poll Confirms Freedom to Marry Law Remains Popular in NH

CONCORD, NH- Standing Up for NH Families issued the following statement from Co-Chair, Craig Stowell of Claremont in response to the WMUR/UNH Survey Center Granite State Poll released today which shows 59 percent of New Hampshire citizens’ support the freedom to marry:  

 “We've now had a full year's worth of polls on the question of repealing our marriage equality law and the result is always the same -- voters do not want the legislature messing with this law.  This is not a close call.  By a consistent margin of nearly two-to-one, voters are telling legislators to leave this popular law alone and get back to work on the economic challenges of our day.”
 
The latest UNH poll demonstrated that the solid support for marriage equality has remained strong over the past year with bipartisan backing across every single age group, despite a nationally funded campaign by the National Organization of Marriage (NOM) targeting lawmakers and voters. 
 
“We can debate this issue forever," said Republican Stowell, "but if legislators really do what they say -- which is to listen to their constituents -- they'll stop this effort to turn back the clock and allow all New Hampshire families to be treated equally under the law. It's time to listen to the people of New Hampshire.”
 
Other recent polls include the Granite State Poll conducted in October, 2011 by the UNH Survey Center and Voter Consumer Research (December 2011), a preeminent polling firm used by President George W. Bush.  Both showed nearly two-thirds of voters oppose repealing the 2009 marriage equality law.

Stayworkplay.org - Stay Work Play and Governor Lynch Committed to Keeping 20-30 Year-Olds in NH

January 23, 2012 – Stay Work Play has partnered with New Hampshire Governor John Lynch and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to host an event on January 26^th aimed at partnering with organizations throughout the state to help retain and attract 20-30 year olds and encourage them to stay work and play in New Hampshire. Governor Lynch has sent out invitations to more than 50 organizations throughout the state to help Stay Work Play build their Board of Advisors, a coalition made up of small and large businesses and other organizations throughout New Hampshire with a focus on retaining our young educated workforce.

"As Governor, my top priority remains giving businesses the tools they need to be successful and create jobs. But in order to fill those jobs, we need to ensure New Hampshire continues to have a highly skilled and educated workforce," Governor Lynch said. "Our young people are vital to the future of our workforce and our state's economy. That's why I encourage businesses and organizations from across New Hampshire to partnerwith Stay Work Play so that we can keep the creativity and talents of more of our young people here in New Hampshire."

New Hampshire has a tradition of producing a highly skilled and educated workforce but NH’s population and workforce are aging. Meanwhile, many New Hampshire high school students attend college outside of New Hampshire, and many New Hampshire college graduates leave the state to seekemployment. Stay Work Play’s goal is to keep New Hampshire in the minds of young people as they consider employment and lifestyle options. Securing a young workforce is vital to New Hampshire’s economy, and Stay Work Play is leading the way in an effort to make our state more attractive to young workers.

As Michael Skelton, Corporate Communications at Public Service of New Hampshire, said, "Ensuring New Hampshire's business community continues to grow and thrive in large part depends on avibrant workforce. By encouraging young workers to remain in New Hampshire,Stay Work Play plays an important role in building the workforce of tomorrow.”

Stay Work Play is proud to invite business and community leaders from all over New Hampshire to learn more about their efforts and discuss how business, education, and government leaders can work collaboratively to support ongoing economic, workforce, and community development. This event will help kick-off a new phase for Stay Work Play and help better bridge the needs of our business community with the needs of our student population who are currently looking beyond New Hampshire’s borders for professional opportunities.

“At Dyn we equate Stay Work Play to the 21st Century equivalent of a travel and tourism bureau - a necessary institution for generation X and millennials to stay and be attracted to the state,” said Jeremy Hitchcock, CEO of Dyn. “The old NH Advantage where we hope that the world educates our students and that they move back to NH is an obsolete theory. Stay Work Play has been, and will continue to be, instrumental in Dyn's growth and success as a great place to work."

Please note that this event is by invitation only, but to find out more about the Stay Work Play Board of Advisors including how your organization may get involved, please visit http://stayworkplay.org/about-us/board-advisors or contact Executive Director, Kate Luczko, kate@stayworkplay.org, (603) 860-2245. Founding Stay Work Play Board of Advisors members include: Public Service of New Hampshire, University System of New Hampshire, New Hampshire College and University Council, New Hampshire Housing, Grappone Automotive Group, Sheehan Phinney Bass and Green, Campus Compact, New Hampshire Public Radio, Leadership New Hampshire, Plymouth State University, Cookson Stephens Corp, Dyn Inc. and Business New Hampshire Magazine.

About Stay Work Play: Stay Work Play is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established in 2009 to build off the work of the 55% Initiative, an effort originally launched by the University System of New Hampshire to help encourage more college students to stay work and play in the state after graduation. The effort gained additional support through the work of the Governor’s Task Force on Young Worker Recruitment and Retention, which recommended the creation of an independent organization to lead an effort to serve younger workers in the state and create a web portal that could servetheir informational and networking needs. Additional information on the organization can be found on the website, www.stayworkplay.org

Gov Roemer Invite to Watch LSU with Gov. Roemer at UNH

Governor Roemer to Cheer on LSU Tigers in National Championship at UNH

 

Manchester, NH– Governor Charles E. “Buddy” Roemer will meet with New Hampshire citizens, volunteers, supporters, and friends to watch his LSU Tigers take on Alabama in the National Championship Game on Monday night.  
 
The event will take place at 8:30 PM at Scorpions Bar and Grill on the campus of the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Scorpions Bar and Grill is located at 45 Main Street, Durham, N.H. 03824. This event is free and open to the public as well as the press.

  
Governor Buddy Roemer is a four-term Congressman and former Governor of Louisiana. He is known for refusing PAC and special interest money, implementing campaign finance reform, turning around Louisiana’s failing economy and cutting the state’s unemployment rate in half in just four years. Roemer is a candidate for President of the United States. His website is www.BuddyRoemer.com.